Caribbean ties with Latin America jolted by banana deal

Last year, a frustrated St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves also raised the issue of double standards in the relationship between the two regions during a summit in Brazil.(Photo: Jose Assenco)

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, December 4, 2009 – As the European Union (EU) gets ready to sign an agreement with Latin America to end a 16-year trade war over bananas, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are expressing their frustration at the perceived double standards of the Latin Americans leaders.

The new accord slashes import taxes on bananas from Latin America, from 176 Euros (US$262) a tonne to 114 Euros (US$170) over the next seven years.

But the region's top public servant, Edwin Carrington, says the decision by the Latin American countries to consistently seek to erode the position of Caribbean banana-producing states on the European market raises "a peculiar question".

"We are in the process of speaking about closer cooperation between Latin America and the Caribbean. We met in Jamaica on the sixth of November…and many of the countries that are party to that discussion…are the same parties whose struggles are pushing us out of the European market, our very limited access to that market in terms of quantity,” he said.

The CARICOM secretary general said these Latin American countries, such as Ecuador, already enjoy "massive benefits of the market…and yet we are being pushed out while we on the other side are speaking about cooperation and fraternal relations".

"It does really raise some serious questions in my mind as to how we are going to reconcile those two positions," he said, noting that in Jamaica there was agreement for a high-level meeting to be held in Mexico in next February to coordinate the positions of the Rio Group of Countries and CARICOM.

Last year, a frustrated St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves also raised the issue of double standards in the relationship between the two regions during a summit in Brazil. He argued that the Latin American leaders were publicly advocating closer relations, but were not following it up in their policies towards the Caribbean.

Carrington said that he has no doubt that the situation will occur again in the future, but he is also hopeful that the Latin Americans would understand the position of the Caribbean.

"I would hate to believe that the fact that [just because] you did something for so many years that you cannot change," he said

The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries have warned that the new accord with Latin America would severely impact upon their struggling economies, and convened an emergency meeting last weekend after details of the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas emerged.

They issued a strongly-worded statement, warning that "the coming days could spell the end of the era when Europe considered the fight against poverty a priority".

They said the banana deal is evidence that, in adopting a "global Europe" strategy in the Lisbon Treaty, the EU is abandoning its commitment to countries with which it has had long historical ties.

As part of the agreement, Europe has offered the ACP 190 million Euros (US$283.6 million) in so-called "banana accompanying measures" to help growers adapt to harsher market conditions and compensate those forced out of business by the liberalisation.

But the ACP is insisting that 250 million Euros (US$373.2 million) is the minimum needed and have also called for the cuts in banana tariffs to be linked to progress in the Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations, which they hope could open up more market opportunities for ACP farmers. (Adapted from IPS)